Boris Koodrin is a Bay Area artist who enjoys exploring the line that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary, and the world around him from the dream-like visions that live within him.

His surreal paintings are an exploration of natural beauty, human consciousness, and the place where the two intersect. His use of symbolic imagery, exquisite detail, and rich colors provides a unique mixture of mystery and beauty that both delights and inspires you from within.

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A self-educated artist, screen printer, and sand carver, Boris began painting as a child under the instruction of his grandmother, who encouraged him to look closely at things.

He was raised near San Francisco's storied Cliff House, the rows of mummies that stood guard above the aging Sutro Skating Rink, and The City's version of Coney Island, Playland at the Beach. Those surreal relics from the past left their mark on him by igniting a fascination with the human psyche.

The desire to get beyond the surface of things has led Boris through a number of disciplines -- from Eastern and Western mysticism to the skilled art of Apache tracking. He recently has served as director of the Vision Youthz non-profit program at San Francisco's Log Cabin Ranch where he helped design a program for male juvenile offenders that focuses on nature, self-awareness, and rites of passage.

Boris studied Advertising Art at City College of San Francisco. After graduating he worked as a freelance political cartoonist for Zenger's Magazine at S.F. State, took on commissions as a portrait and landscape artist, and dabbled in set design.

In 1975 he co-founded a commercial t-shirt company and today he still owns and operates The Image Company in San Bruno, CA. Having worked as an artist and printer since 1970, he has developed many creative and technical skills -- from printing the multi-colored logo on the telephones used at the 1996 Democratic Convention, to a sand carved portrait of Joe Montana on an MVP award. Boris has also worked with Eileen Borgeson of Medici Arts in the translation of the John Lennon, Maxfield Parrish, and Erte' collections to deep crystal carvings.
In 2005 he completed a historical 40-foot mural commemorating 150 years of Jesuit education at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco.

Today Boris Koodrin is exploring the art of interior doors and where they can take us (home.earthlink.net/~artika).